inhlanzi

Hey Netic Well done to you and the boys. Great report "Another Yft report" you should change it to something like "Another fantastic Yft report" I loved watching that Stella at work ...wtf with the rod??? Just an amazing season of Sydney this year!!! cheers inhlanzi PS get a Texie for that Stella

G'day Twins This is a fantastic way to fish and the more I do it the more I enjoy it. There are many species to be had by downrigging. You can downrig lures, flies, jigs as well as live and dead baits. I will try and explain the basics. I have done a sketch to illustrate the main set-up and refer to it as we go into more detail. I know there are some very good and experienced "downriggers" on this site and I am sure they will add to, and probably have better ways of doing things. I urge them to add to the post as i am sure we can all learn something. Everybody I have downrigged with has their own way and their own little secrets. Add to these bits as we go! A. The Downrigger. Scotty and Cannon seem to be the most popular here in Sydney. In my opinion they both have their advantages and disadvantages. For the purpose of this exercise lets just concentrate on the manual downrigger. Also some blokes have built their own and they work very well. Make sure it has a depth counter on it. This will make your life much easier. Make sure it is in he measurement you want ie feet meters or fathoms. Calibrate the counter before you go out! B. Downrigger Mount. Spend time testing on the water and see where the mount will work best on your boat. Consider what downward pressure will be placed on you boat and where. Try and arrange it so it is easy to remove if you have to. In some instances when we hook up we take the whole downrigger out of the way. This helps when you are fighting big fish near the boat. I have seen fish lost snagged on the arms of the downrigger and if the bomb is not pulled up far enough on the cable itself. Braid and mono is no match for the wire cable! C. Rod I like to use my (remaining ) Wilson Live Fibre Texalium rods but whatever you think will be strong enough to take the big hits when they come. D. Reel I use Baitrunner 6500s as I really like the baitrunner feature when letting down the bomb. But really this is a very personal part of the system. E. Sounder This is a very important part of the set up. I have fished with all kinds of sounders. The better they are the more info about the bottom and the fish you will get. On those tough days a good sounder will make all the difference. F. Rod holder. Make sure the holder can handle the hit and at different angles. You can loose your gear if it is not up to scratch. As insurance put a lanyard on your rod if you have any doubt. A big King will make you doubt I promise you. G. Wire Cable Some folks use thick braid here. Again up to you. Wire makes a certain noise at different speeds. Sometimes you will see bubbles coming off the wire. H. Stopper Bead. This helps when winding up the bomb and stops damage to the roller on the outrigger arm. I. Clip J. Snubber. This is mainly here to help your hands and also should be of a lesser breaking strain than the cable so hopefully it will break free if you get the bomb snagged. K. Clip L. Bomb. There are quite a few sizes and shapes. I like to use from 3 to 10lb and round and fish. Round cannonball Round Puck Shape with a tail Fish Chromed reflective Fish reflective or mirror bombs which serve ac an extra attractant to the bait Z Wing M. Heavy Mono Leader N. Line Clip Release O. Leader P. Bait How far back you set the bait from the clip is up to you. I usually set mine about 5m back from the clip. The most important thing is that the bait swims properly and does not spin. There is a bit of an art form to this and is in my opinion an essential skill in downrigging. Q. Motor Some motors when just in gear go faster than others. The downrig speed is also something you will get to learn. This is more or less the procedure I use 1. Make sure you know what to expect on the bottom if you can. Do a dry run over the area if you don't know it. This can save you lots of frantic episodes on the back of the boat. 2. Get your rod ready and in its holder with the drag set to a position that will take line off the spool with out pulling out of the downrigger line clip release when the bomb goes down. 3. Get the downrigger bomb and line clip release ready and in position over the side or out the back (Depending on how the downrigger is set up) 4. Move forward at a very slow speed and in a straight line. 5. Attach bait and place it overboard and check to see how it "swims". 6. If you are happy with how it swims attach line to line clip release 7. Make sure your reel is set to let out line. 8. Let down bomb to desired depth. 5-10 ft off the bottom 9. Wind up slack in the main line till the rod is taught and has a good bend in it. 10. Make sure when you turn your cable does not get snagged in the prop of the motor. 11. Keep an eye on the sounder and watch the tip of the rod. Sometimes on the sounder you can see the fish coming up or down to hit the bait. 12. Have a plan of action when the strike happens. ie move away from structure, pick up rod, gain some line, wind up bomb as soon as you can, fight fish, have net / gaff close at hand, land fish, scream loudly I think this is a great way to fish. I hope this helps the beginners and if the Gurus can add to the post it would be great. Cheers inhlanzi

hey Zenman Sorry to hear about the lost fish just means you're getting closer to the big one Did it run with the current or against it? I got some good advice a few years back that if you are after the big (20+KG) jewies use big baits and don't go under 80lb leader and mainline braid. Braid lasts longer and has less chance of picking up nicks and dings. Its kind of like insurance if the big one comes along. cheers inhlanzi

Wow Mitch that is a fantastic report! Very nice fish well done Mitch Pete and Stewey What a day you guys had. I am deep dark green with envy! Pete leave some fish in the sea... are you having a good month or what? I told the fellas in the shop you were in for a BIG day. cheers inhlanzi

I find an iki spike is very effective on most species and then into a sea water ice slurry cheers inhlanzi

I gave up with the mincers and moulinexes and other kitchen ware also had enough of me destroying the kitchenware and so went to B......S and bought a garden shredder that does up to 30mm branches. You need to freeze the stuff you are putting through to cut down on the smell I have just made a fair few kg of burley from frames of +-30kg tuna. Munches these big backbones no problem. Shredder needs to be washed down and stored outside!!!! cheers inhlanzi

That will teach me not to check my mobile messages!!! ...sadly could'nt make it anyway. Well done to the Gofish team those are very impressive fish. A very special day to remember. On my second set of tuna steaks already, thanks Pete cheers inhlanzi

Very nice report and pics there Le Pasha Top effort by your team Nice pic of the man in the grey suit cheers inhlanzi

Well done NIC NAT That is a good bunch of fins you guys must be very happy with that trip. cheers inhlanzi

Go fish has a good range and if they don't have I am sure they can order for you. Have you seen and tried the new Luvias Cheers inhlanzi

That is a fantastic brownie Mr Dalucius Well done Good photos and report too Well done cheers inhlanzi

To the Backfish Queen... Great report and well done cheers inhlanzi

Very sad news. My condolences to the family. R.I.P. inhlanzi

Bad luck there mate All part of the learning curve...it hurts I know. But you're getting better all the time. Near the meter mark forget the net and bring out the gaff... cheers inhlanzi

Just a BIG thank you to Heather, Pete, Sean, Chuck and all the others for a great evening. Had to leave a bit early but the speaker was relly good and I learned heaps. Cheers inhlanzi

Great Beach Jewie there Outdoordan well done and a good report too. You realise you're buggered now that Jewfishfever has set in. Only cure is to catch more and bigger!! cheers inhlanzi

Hey Kit The first rule of Jewfishing is NEVER GIVE UP. I promise you when you least expect it most that rod of yours will buckle and that baitrunner will start screaming. This season I have targeted Jewfish and Kings in Sydney and the ratio is about 20 kings to one jewfish, and that is from a boat. I do think you are at a disadvantage by not being in a boat. You are setting yourself a very tough task by being landbased. There are two ways to Jewfish in my opinion. Wait for them or hunt them down. If you wait for them pick a spot that produces and fish all the tides and all the baits. You will learn a lot like this and you may be surprised by what else you catch. Also I think it is very important to target a "size" jewfish ie under 50cm, under 70cm, under 90cm, under 110cm, under 130cm etc Each size needs a different tactic. Remember never give up! cheers inhlanzi

Well done there Big-Banana Good report too. I have been lucky enough to get a couple of those size lately and it is hard to describe how ferocious and cunning they are. Well done on landing him with all those obstacles in the way. We had a big bustoff on Sunday and my mates fishin near us also had one. Here is a tip - check the braid / line that you caught that fish on and make sure you get rid of all the bits that have come into contact with reef, boat, downrigger lines etc. It's common sense but some real good fish have been lost lately due to this. Line and knot failure seems to be the common feature with all the bust offs lately. I bet he tasted fantastic. Those fat ones have a special taste! I also can't wait for the meter plus ... they are there cheers inhlanzi PS try a big live slimey or a frigate and see what happens!!!!

Thats a stonker slosh! well done cheers inhlanzi

Wohooooo Those are amazing fish Clife well done Have you got any lengths and weights of them? What kind of tackle were you using? Looks like you have the strength to handle those hoodies too! Cheers inhlanzi

G'day Raiders I was lucky enough to get out and spend the day with Pete and Chuck from Go Fish. Thanks fellas! Early start and our plan was to try and get a few livies and then spend some time downrigging for some Kingeys. After that try and catch the run in tide and go for the ever elusive big Jewie and a few Bream. We were greeted by almost perfect conditions and the livies obliged. A slimey and a good few yakka. Double downriggers and off we headed. Pete and I witnessed something very special - Arial acrobatics from a breaching bronze whaler. Man what a sight! The kind of thing if you saw it on your own and you told someone they would not believe you. The colours in the morning light were incredible Made a nice round of coffees whilst the riggers were down and putted around having a good jabber then we see a school of very nervous garies scatter over the surface. Here we go here we go Exciting stuff!!! My remaining texie gets hammered. ( The downrigger and the rod each had their own safety harness ) Now the team sprung into action. Chuck got the boat well away from the rocks and Pete cleared the decks. Quickly we had cunningly swam him off the rocks and away from any structure. This brawler hardley realised he was hooked but boy when he did he went crazy. He got the old drag washers heated up as he took off on a few blinding runs. Then what happened next was jaw dropping... He knew he was beaten by not having structure so he swam straight at the boat and rubbed up against the hull not once but twice! Amazing behavior. SH*(&^ I thought he was gonna bust us off on our own boat!!! Chuck cut the motor and lifted it out the water just to make things harder for this hoodie. So in the safety of the open water we were able to subdue this amazing fish and get him on board. He went 94cm and 7 and a half kgs. We snapped a few photos and put the thug on ice! Wow what a start to the day. We continued to downrig and we think we got hit by a shark who took the stinger off the rig without popping the rigger but left the yakka with a few nasty lacerations. Packed in the downrigging and got set up at the run in Jewie spot. Chuck got a few nice bream on light gear using his gourmet bait. The usual pickers and peckers were about but the big fellows didn't come to play. The sun dipped behind the skyline and the nor easter seemed to get a bit colder. So we pulled the plug an headed home. All in all what a great day. Cheers inhlanzi

Breabusters Nice looking brownie and amazing pics of the snow. Have you thawed out yet? cheers inhlanzi

Thanks for all the replies Raiders Great to be able to share the experience with all of you. Thanks for the sympathy and the advice. It sounds like I am not alone in having gear busted out of rodholders! I will attempt to answer some of the questions you asked Tobyw - Didn't get an exact measure or a weight but on the boat I have a measure sticker which goes 90cm and the tail went past that. Netic - The drag was what I call hand tight, you have to give the line a good pull to make the spool move. Boban - I have kept a packet of fillets to give to your Uncle. Maybe he will get you over for some tasty hoodlum for lunch. He saw the fish when I got home. Ceph - I'm already starting to research stainless rodholders! Byron - I will never put a rod out on a downrigger without a lanyard again - I have already made one 3m long and it even has a crab trap float on - just in case. I will let you know if we ever find the rod and reel. Cheers inhlanzi

G'day Raiders In recent weeks I have been attempting to catch a big jewie on a downrigger. Pete at GoFish has been very helpful at getting all the bits and pieces I need to get up and running. I had to get a special rail-mount to hold the downrigger. On Thursday I went for a trail run with everything in place. I did a few runs with a big river to sea rattle mullet and then a big paddletail and finally a Pakula Dojo Peche. I wanted to see how the boat and gear performed at low speed and see how the feedback was on the rod with the different lures. All worked very well and was stoked with the whole set up. There was some surface action and I went over to chuck a small river to sea "pinkie" at the splashing. Quickley got a nice slimey an then I had a bright idea! How about a nice downrigged slimey!! Got the rod rerigged and down went a slimey to 25 feet. Now the rod in question is a Wilson Live Fibre Texalium Six foot Spin and on it is a Baitrunner 6500B loaded with 80lb Tuff line XP sitting in a rail mounted Scotty Powerlock 230. I head off down with the current as the tide is on its way out. I decide I will just follow the flow and see what happens. About 20 mins into the journey I suddenly hear that amazing sound of the 6500 going off its head, I turned to see the rod absolutely buckled off to the side and then a sudden sharp CRACK and the rod, reel and rodholder head off at an angle into the drink!!!! kasploosh!!!!! Instinctively I grab the downrigger handle and wind like hell but its not caught on anything. WTF WTF All quiet... WHAT THE F&^$!!!!! Absolutely shattered is about all I could think. Stopped the boat sat there and contemplated the situation. How the hell can a rod holder snap like that??? I have had numerous really big rays and good sharks and the odd big jew take in that same holder and never a problem. I checked the bomb and as it was still a brand new bomb there was not a mark on so therefore it must have been a a frigging FISH!!! The DAMAGE - $600 plus Goooooone Wilson Live Fibre Texalium Six foot Spin (+_ $350.00 ) and on it is a Baitrunner 6500B ( +_ $230.00 ) loaded with 80lb Tuff line XP ( at least $50.00 ). Scotty Rod Holder ( +_ $ 59 ) All that remains... Ah well I figure I better start to try and jig up my gear. Find some sinkers and get a few trebbles off the lures and the cast and retrieve begins. At this point I remember back to Cephs posts about the Stella that got away not once but twice and he got it back so it motivated me keep on trying. I tried for a long time and it was starting to get dark and then in the gloom I see a fin slowly moving on the surface. Being a bit curious I motored over to have a look and there is a mother of a kingie just slowly lolling on the surface. Quickley grab one of the rods and try to put on a lure to have a cast. Then I notice something hanging out the side of the kingeys mouth - a slimey. Thats what took my rod!!!!!!!! As I got closer he turned and I could see my yellow braid!!! My heart starts pumping and now what? At this point he sees the boat and a swish of the tail and he's off like a rocket. Ok OK so now I know more or less where things are. By now its really dark and I decide to pack up and come back at first light. I got home and made up a few jiggin traces with the biggest trebbles I could find. Hardly slept all night and at 5 am I was off to the water. Got to the spot as the sun was coming up and there was nothing. So I figured I would try and jig the whole area. I had been jigging and draging for hours I was quite despondent. A couple of times I saw what a thought was an up-welling near where I saw the Kingie last night. I moved a bit closer and cast over the upwelling area. I think on the third cast I snagged something - the joy of seeing the braid on the trebble was amazing. I grabbed the braid and began to pull there was something there and it was moving. YES YES YES I took my time hand over hand making a neat pile on the deck and then I saw him...SHIT... landing net no, no no! too small get the gaff get the gaff. I guided his head toward the transom and lowered the gaff under his head and drove it home up and onto the boat, bloody hell this was a good size King. The measure sticker on my boat stops at 90cm and he was well pased that!! Yahoooooooooo.. NOW get the gear on the other end! I pulled the line in quickley ...BIG MISTAKE ... It was snagged on something and I guess I was a bit too hasty I had the line wrapped around a pair of pliers for leverage, but long story short - the braid bust down where it was snagged and my beloved texie and my newest 6500 lies somewhere down there. The Kingie made a fantastic dinner for 9 adults and a couple of kids. I am still in a bit of shock and will have to go back and jig and drag some more. As I stare at the empty spot in my rod rack I guess there are a lot of lessons to be learned here but I still need time to figure them all out! Cheers inhlanzi

Nice one there Humesy It won't be long before you get a biggie cheers inhlanzi